Dr Camila Bassi BA (Hons) PGCE DPhil

Senior Lecturer in Human Geography

Summary

Camila is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and the Course Leader for BA (Hons) Human Geography. She teaches on the undergraduate Geography and Human Geography degrees. Camila was awarded a Faculty Inspirational Teaching Award in 2014 and a University Inspirational Teaching Award in 2015. She also won the Sheffield Hallam Students’ Union Academic Staff of the Year Award in 2016.

My doctoral research on Birmingham (UK) and recent research on Shanghai concern the intersection of ‘race’ and sexuality within and through urban political economy. My ongoing project within critical geography is to indicate the benefits of a return to, and reinvigoration of, Marx and Marxism. Accordingly, my work has offered an original exploration of key ideas from Marx and Gramsci to think through more subtle accounts of capitalism - specifically, instances from within that escape its oppressive conditions (see: Bassi, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2016, 2016). I make a case for a return to Marxism as an alternative to the seeming necessity to reconfigure Marxianisms via queer theory (and, more generally, post-structuralism). My ACME paper (Bassi, 2010) builds on this ‘return to Marxism’ by critiquing the revolutionary left vanguard of England's anti-war movement through what I argue to be the spirit of Marxism, that is, the task of building a third camp of independent, internationalist, working class politics. An excavation of early Marxist work on the Jewish question guides my writing on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and issue of left-wing anti-Semitism (Bassi, 2011). Finally, I explore the present-day political deadlock between a current of radical feminists and transgender activists, which has played out on social media and across university campuses, whilst offering a route out of this through a Marxist-inspired call for dialogue (Bassi, 2017).

My personal blog, Anaemic On A Bike, contains a range of posts and podcasts which synthesise my academic ideas with wider political currents, and reflects my commitment to open access and public engagement. See: https://anaemiconabike.com